s in this country. In May we have
strawberries, which continue in season two or three months. These are
of the wood kind; very grateful, and of a good flavour; but the
scarlets and hautboys are not known at Nice. In the beginning of June,
and even sooner, the cherries begin to be ripe. They are a kind of
bleeding hearts; large, fleshy, and high flavoured, though rather too
luscious. I have likewise seen a few of those we call Kentish cherries
which are much more cool, acid, and agreeable, especially in this hot
climate. The cherries are succeeded by the apricots and peaches, which
are all standards, and of consequence better flavoured than what we
call wall-fruit. The trees, as well as almonds, grow and bear without
care and cultivation, and may be seen in the open fields about Nice,
but without proper culture, the fruit degenerates. The best peaches I
have seen at Nice are the amberges, of a yellow hue, and oblong shape,
about the size of a small lemon. Their consistence is much more solid
than that of our English peaches, and their taste more delicious.
Several trees of this kind I have in my own garden. Here is likewise
plenty of other sorts; but no nectarines. We have little choice of
plumbs. Neither do I admire the pears or apples of this country: but
the most agreeable apples I ever tasted, come from Final, and are
called pomi carli. The greatest fault I find with most fruits in this
climate, is, that they are too sweet and luscious, and want that
agreeable acid which is so cooling and so grateful in a hot country.
This, too, is the case with our grapes, of which there is great plenty
and variety, plump and juicy, and large as plumbs. Nature, however, has
not neglected to provide other agreeable vegetable juices to cool the
human body. During the whole summer, we have plenty of musk melons. I
can buy one as large as my head for the value of an English penny: but
one of the best and largest, weighing ten or twelve pounds, I can have
for twelve sols, or about eight-pence sterling. From Antibes and
Sardinia, we have another fruit called a watermelon, which is well
known in Jamaica, and some of our other colonies. Those from Antibes
are about the size of an ordinary bomb-shell: but the Sardinian and
Jamaica watermelons are four times as large. The skin is green, smooth,
and thin. The inside is a purple pulp, studded with broad, flat, black
seeds, and impregnated with a juice the most cool, delicate, and
refreshing, tha